A Whole Lotta Thankfuls

Wow.  I forget, until November rolls around,  that the thankfuls add up if I skip a few days of posting.  So I'll do a quick catchup...along with pictures from our church's recent hayride/bonfire.

November 7, We Are Thankful For:

Allie: Helicopters.  Right behind her love of airplanes is her love of helicopters.  She is slowly working her way through her biggest loves...and I love that about her thankfuls.

Ryan: My Caterpillars.  Keeping it consistent. I love that about my little man.

Me: Lucas.  I've been battling a virus that has settled in my lymph glands.  It was going away, and then there were a couple of nights of interrupted sleep and it started to come back.  Lucas came home early to help me get some rest (sleep seems to be the key).  I'm thankful for a husband who is so caring and thoughtful, who is always willing to chip in and take over, and who has a job that allows him the flexibility to be there when I need.

Sitting on the straw.  They couldn't wait for the hayride to start (but we sat and waited for everyone to get there for about 45 minutes).

 November 8,  We are Thankful For:

Allie & Ryan: I forgot.  I have a good excuse...but I completely forgot.  And trying to get them to remember just wasn't worth it.

Me: I have to confess, but I was sort of thankful for tv.  On Thursday the virus really took me down.  I knew I needed to lay low, but Lucas also was committed until mid-afternoon.  The twins got to watch more than their usual allotted amount of tv.  They were thrilled and I got to rest.  Sometimes you just gotta do whatcha gotta do...

Lucas again.  My hero.  Rode in and saved the day.  I basically got to sleep most of the afternoon.  That plus a few (really) early nights has helped me get a more solid footing against this virus.

Ry-guy chatting with one of the youth.

Allie checking out the tractor.

 November 9, We Are Thankful For:

Allie: Black Siddeley.  She has several toy planes (from "treasure" hunting at garage sales).  Her black jet is her largest.  It had been "missing" and was found on Friday.

Ryan: My 2 Caterpillars.  Bumble and Baby Bumble.  Oh, Dollar General, won't you please make more of these?  My son will be devastated if we ever lose them...

Me: Feeling better.

A chance to minister.  One thing about a life of ministry is that you are part of the most intense and emotional parts of life for more people than perhaps is ordinary.  Funerals, weddings, counseling of all different kinds - these are all a fairly regular part of a pastor's work week. On Friday evening we got a call from a neighbor about their nephew (and his friend) who was missing and had left behind a suicide note.  While we felt pretty helpless, we joined with the family in support and prayer and spread the word for others to pray.  While my heart was broken for the parents and family (and I definitely was not thankful for the situation), I was thankful for the opportunity to minister and pour love into the lives of these neighbors during an intense time in their lives.

Hayfight!

 November 10, We Are Thankful For:

Allie: Baby Siddeley.  Her little blue toy airplane.  She has a whole family of airplanes that she has collected.

Ryan: My Caterpillars.  You will never doubt what is important to him!

Me: Toy House.  I realize that our favorite toy store has already made it onto the thankful list once, but it is a favorite destination.  On Saturday we met up with the cousins for their special "Neighborhood Toy Store Appreciation" day.  We played, and shopped.  It felt great to get my Christmas shopping started!

Great weather.  Seriously, it was in the 70's...in November...it was amazing.  Especially since we had the

Church Hayride.  A truly wonderful evening with our church family.  A hayride out to a little cabin by a pond on a farm.  We ate dinner and roasted marshmallows (with the kids who were chomping at the bit to toast some 'mallows) and looked at the stars and enjoyed great conversations.  Such a great time and the weather couldn't have been better.

Answered Prayers.  On our way to the hayride we received word that the kids were found safe and sound!  What an honor and relief to rejoice alongside the family.  My continued prayer is that these kids will see the outpouring of love, support, and effort from their family, friends, and community, and that it will speak into their lives how precious they truly are.  Please, join me in this prayer.

Throwing sticks off the dock into the (very shallow) pond.  About 2 seconds after this photo was taken, Allie almost fell in, and all dock activity was stopped.

November 11, We Are Thankful For:

Allie: My Babies.  She spent the whole afternoon taking care of her babies - putting them down for naps, creating delicious treats for them to eat, and finding special surprises for them.

Ryan: My Caterpillars.  At this point, I will be shocked if he is thankful for anything else.  

Me: More Answered Prayer.  I had been praying for a friend that had sort of fallen off the map.  It had become clear that the contact info I had for her was no longer hers, and I was pretty sure that something major was happening in her life.  I just kept praying that God would bring her to church or let our paths accidentally cross.  I can't even tell you how excited I was when her children walked into my Sunday School class.  She was/is going through something major, and it was keeping her away, and then she felt like she should come back, and now I have current contact info to make sure she doesn't fall off the map again!

Beautiful weather.  Fall is giving us one last hurrah, and we enjoyed it as much as we could!  Though the twins were telling me today all about their favorite snowy weather activities (sledding, looking for animal tracks, and skiing - the last they've never done, but apparently they saw it somewhere and think it's cool).

An easy bedtime.  Sure I might have bribed them with money for their piggy banks, but bedtime (and night time) has been ridiculous lately, and it was wonderful to have it easy for a change!

The thankful tree is filling up!  I will post a more current picture as soon as I remember to take one :) The twins are really enjoying the hands-on thankful activity and I'm loving the visual lesson of how all our thankfuls add up!

Goin' to the Zoo!

Lucas had to do a hospital visit in Lansing on Monday, so he asked if the twins and I would like to ride along and go to the zoo while he was at the hospital.  At first I thought, "Go to the zoo?  In November?"  But then I realized the weather had to be better than our last trip, so it would work!  We bundled up, and I brought a blanket for them to snuggle under while they rode in the wagon (which lasted about 15 minutes), but it ended up being no different than playing outside on a chilly day - which we do ALL the time!
The horses were being taken for walks and were incredibly talkative...which brought ALL the llamas out to watch and talk back.

 The naughty little goat kept fighting with the others...until a "peacemaker" goat intervened and kept pushing him away and nuzzling him to calm him down.  It was fascinating to watch!

Aside from 1 giant group of students on a field trip, we had the zoo to ourselves.  After discovering the giant group, we just tweaked our route to avoid them.  It was really fun to feel like we had the whole zoo to ourselves, and the staff was really talkative.  The twins always think it is amazing to talk to the zookeepers/security guards.
Ryan's favorites are the tigers and lions.  Not only were they all exceptionally visible, but they were pretty active.  He was in heaven!

Allie visiting "Tuck."

 They both wanted to check their wingspan - still crows...

Running to meet Daddy.  It is really fun to be walking down a zoo street and look up to see someone you know!

 One of the coolest things we have seen at the zoo - the vets catching one of the bald eagles to give it a checkup!

Nov. 5, We are Thankful For:
Allie & Ryan: Bumble.
This one requires a little explaining.  Because of the passing of Dr. Reist, death has been a popular conversation topic in our house.  A while back our memory verse was John 3:16, and they wanted to know what "eternal life" meant.  So, to try to describe it in terms they understood, I described our life on earth as being like a caterpillar.  Eventually the caterpillar stops being a caterpillar and turns into  butterfly.  I told them that someday our bodies here on earth die, but we don't die, we get better bodies in heaven - like a butterfly.  Theologically shaky, perhaps, but my attempt to explain death and life after in terms a 3 year old understands.  On this particular day we had the visitation for Dr. Reist, which meant the twins were obsessed with his "change" (Ryan is convinced he got beautiful wings).  Unfortunately, caterpillars are Ryan's best friend...and he became obsessed with the impending "change" he was sure Bumble would have to undergo.  Since Dr. Reist was sick, Ryan informed us that Bumble was sick...and would be dying soon.  Ryan and Allie both wanted to express their thanks for this dear (stuffed) friend.  I, of course, had to follow up with another conversation to further clarify things...like the fact that Bumble is not (I promise!) dying...
Me: Friends. We got to spend a wee bit of time with some friends we hadn't seen in a while, and it was delightful!  I'm thankful that God has always provided good friends wherever we have lived.
Nov 6, We are Thankful For:
Allie: Butterflies.  Yes.  This is a continuation of the aforementioned theme.  Thankfully butterflies remind her of not just eternal life, but a better life (I mean, seriously, we get butterfly wings?!)
Ryan: My caterpillars. He's consistent, this one.
Me: Democracy.  I am so thankful that I live in a country where I get to vote!  My opinion is counted.  My voice is heard.  Taking my kids with me to vote is always an exciting thing.  I hope I can instill in them the importance that it holds to me.
My Sister-friend who came to our house to watch the kiddos while we had the funeral.  I appreciate the entire afternoon she gave to us.  Her willingness to be as available as we needed truly ministered to us.
The funeral.  Not only was Dr. Reist's funeral beautiful, but the traditional Requiem Mass was a rich, new experience.  The service, and especially the homily, was incredibly Christ-focused and centered.  And it was a unique opportunity for me to see Lucas is a different pastoral role.  I've seen him on Sundays, I've seen him at weddings, but I had never seen him at a graveside service.  Witnessing a different facet of his ministry made me appreciate him all the more.  Overall, I left both thoughtful and uplifted, and I hope everyone else did as well.
Swim lessons.  It was a stark transition to literally go from the graveside service to swim lessons.  But having something that always produces so much enthusiasm was a nice distraction.  AND, for the first time me friend and I managed to coordinate our kids' swim lessons so that we could hang out during!  Spending time with a dear friend - even time punctuated by "Mommy, did you see?" and clapping for our kids - was the perfect end to the day.

Catching up on Thankfuls

Ok, combining a few days to catch up.

Saturday, November 3, We are Thankful for:

Allie: ALL my babies.  Apparently, she was worried that some of her babies felt left out by just saying, "My Babies," so she made it more inclusive.

Ryan: My caterpillar, Bumble.  So far, his thankfuls have truly represented the biggest things in his life.

Me:

Muppets Take Manhattan.  Have you seen it?  One of my favorite childhood movies.  I remember the first time I watched it.  Miss Piggy roller skating after the purse snatcher in the park was my favorite scene.  I happened to see it was on, and caught the last half.  Ryan and Allie joined us during the muppet babies number.  They loved it (the little they saw).  Ryan told me it was the funniest thing he ever saw :)

A Husker's win: Confession: I like it when my team wins, but there is no game I want to win more than the one we play against MI State.  And really, the only reason that game matters to me so much is because my brother-in-law, Logan, cheers for state.  Logan is always talking smack about the Huskers - which makes the win so much better because it shuts him up...for a day or two.  This year Logan and I made a friendly wager on the game.  My team winning meant Logan had to post this as his facebook status:

Oh, yeah.  It was a good day.

And, with that, I have to say I'm very thankful for each and every one of my "in-laws."  And I'm not just saying that because they read the blog.  Early on I felt very comfortable with Lucas' family.  They truly welcomed me into their family.  I thought this was the norm.  I have since learned that it most definitely is not.  In fact, many people (especially daughters-in-law) don't ever feel like they do, or should, fit in at all with their in-laws.  I feel so blessed that this has not been my experience at all.  I'm truly grateful for in-laws who love me so much and consider me one of them.  I'm thankful for the relationships I have with each of them.  And I'm thankful for a brother-in-law who not only feels comfortable enough to trash talk my team, but (I know) values me more because I trash talk back :)

Sunday, Nov. 4, We are thankful for:

Allie: God and Siddeley.  Perhaps because it was Sunday (a day that tends to involve a lot of talk about God and His love) God was her first answer.  But she made sure to remind me the next day that she was thankful for God.  Sweet.  And Siddeley is the spy plane from Cars 2.  Allie is in love with all planes and have assigned them this name!

Ryan: Bumble.  He loves his Bumble.  I would be willing to bet that Bumble will get the majority of Ryan's thankfuls.

Me:

A Day of Rest. I thought our time Up North would leave me rested and refreshed, but the way our return played out I felt more frenzied, disoriented, and burnt out than before.  Sunday is always one of our busiest days (and, in all honesty, this one was on different).  But we had a few gorgeous hours in the afternoon to just chill, and those few hours were glorious.  Daylight savings did not mean the extra hour of sleep those without young children enjoy, but bedtime was a breeze because the children were exhausted from the extra hour of being awake!  Simple blessings :) And I'm especially thankful for a God that commands rest.  I frequently need the reminder that I am created to be a human BEING not a human doing.

A Thankfulness Project

Friday, I finally remembered that it was in fact November, and that I had a plan for documenting our thankfuls.  I, however, didn't have the time to put my plan into action.  I did manage to document our thankfuls before another day passed by.  Saturday, I finally managed to pull my plan together: our thankfulness tree.

Allie: My babies - she has a million stuffed animals, toys, even little pillows that she calls her babies.  She cared for them as if they were real babies.  She has a tender mother's heart.

Ryan: Candy!  What else could we expect when he has a bag full of delicious treasures.  Trick-or-treating had a big impact on this one.

I am thankful for:

Freezer Dinners.  I took some time a while back to make some meals ahead and put them in the freezer.  It was a relief, after the previous day being so emotional and the twins not sleeping the night before, to be able to pull a bag out of the freezer, pop the contents into the crock pot, and know my family was going to have a healthy, home-cooked meal with almost no effort!

The Toy House.  We have an amazing toy store that is not too far away.  We needed to get a present for our neighbor's birthday.  We needed an afternoon diversion.  It was perfect!  But being there makes me wish that I could either be a kid again, or buy everything there and live vicariously through my children!

Talking with my dad.  It was such a cloudy, dreary day.  I was so tired.  And I was hit by a wave of sadness and loss that I was worried would storm out of control.  My dad has always had  a stabilizing influence.  No matter what the mood, my dad has always known how to remind me what is important, calm me down, comfort, encourage, support me. Suddenly, I just needed to hear his voice.  We didn't even talk about anything important, but he managed to do what he does best.  For that matter, today I am especially thankful for my parents.  In my opinion, they did an incredible job raising my brothers and I.  They taught me so many wonderful things - often teaching the most valuable way...through their example.  They sacrificed so much (more than I realized at the time) to give us the best they could - especially when it came to education.  Their faith, especially, was an incredible example and laid the foundation for the faith and ministry I live today.  I hope I can be as wonderful a parent for my children...and that they will turn out as wonderfully as me ;)

30 Days of Thankfulness

It is that time of the year again.  November has arrived, and I am continuing my tradition of recording the things I (and the twins!) am thankful for every day (reminisce with previous years here...here...and here).  The twins asked why we were doing this, and I responded, "Because November is the month of thankfulness."  I suddenly realized that I also had a theme in mind for December...maybe every month will have to have a theme...

Unfortunately, November 1st was a bit of a crazy day.  We woke up early to head home from Up North.  We needed to get home before Lucas' afternoon Bible Study.  Immediately after he got home from his Bible study I had to leave for a doctor's appointment.  Then the twins had swim lessons.  Then we had evening Bible study at our house.  Nothing like jumping right back into real life.  That said, I felt totally prepared for our crazy day.

Until Lucas was late getting back from Bible study - potentially throwing off the whole day's schedule. He walked in the door, and I was prepared to be furious, when he told me the reason he was late.  Our former professor, the man who married us, Lucas' former mentor, and our friend passed away.  It wasn't completely out of the blue - he had been sick and in the hospital - but we still weren't expecting it.  Not yet.

And it wasn't until the next evening that I realized I had completely lost a day of thankfulness.  My initial thought was that I didn't feel very thankful, but then I realized that my sorrow was actually born out of deep thanks.

So, November 1st I am thankful for:

Dr. Reist

I am thankful I had him as a professor.  His specialty was fiction and faith, and it was through his classes that I learned some of the greatest lessons about both.  In one class (entitled Fiction and Faith), we were startled to see some classic atheist works on the syllabus.  He taught us that we shouldn't avoid  reading these things because they aren't about God.  We should read these things because they aren't about God.  We as Christians can't expect to reach people unless we know where they are coming from.  How can we have intelligent discourse with the world without knowing the worldview from which they are coming?    And without intelligent discourse, how can we expect to tell them about Christ?  He also taught me the importance of the story.  He showed us that, throughout the Bible, God uses stories to teach people about himself.  He showed us how every story - even those not intended to have a Christian message - whisper truths about God.  He changed the way I read, and he changed the way I talk to others about God.

At church just after we announced our engagement to the congregation.

I am thankful I had him as a pastor.  While listening to his sermons wasn't a lot different from sitting through a class (just shorter), he was one of the most incredible shepherds I have ever met.  He cared for people so deeply, and was there for support whenever needed.  It seemed he was always on his way to the hospital to visit someone - perhaps because any time he heard of anyone who was unwell he would respond, "Do they need a visit from a pastor?  I would be happy to visit them."  He had a great sense of what was sacred - and worked to treasure and protect those sacred things and teach us how and why to treasure and protect them.  But he also knew what was nice but not necessary - to those things he never failed to add some levity to remind us not to take it too seriously.

Speaking at Lucas' ordination.

I am thankful I knew him as a person.  He was an incredible man.  Other people have written blog posts that attest to this in words far better than I could ever write.  He was known for his jokes and one liners - he never took himself too seriously.  He was a man of incredible faith - he lived it out every day.  He was a shepherd not only to his congregation, but also to his students - it seemed everyone went to Dr. Reist with their problems, probably because he always had the time to listen and he always seemed to know the right things to say.  He knew poetry and could recite it at the drop of a hat.  He sang - barbershop quartets being a specialty.  He quacked.  He wore sleeve garters.  He whistled.  I can still hear his whistle.  It always brought a smile to my face because it meant he was nearby, and if he was nearby, laughter was in my near future.

At our wedding - family members still quote memorable one-liners from his sermon!

I am thankful Lucas had him as a mentor.  I have joked for years that Lucas wants to be Dr. Reist.  And every now and then Lucas will do or say something classically "Reist" and I will think to myself, "It's happening.  He is turning into him."  But the reality is that there are very few men that would be a better model - especially for a pastor.  I know that Dr. Reist played a large role in shaping Lucas and his ministry.  Lucas has credited Dr. Reist with confirming his call to the ministry and showing him what it looks like to be a true shepherd.  Every pastor should be so lucky.

Together at Rays.  

If Allie had been a boy, we had planned for her middle name to be Reist.  We figured Ryan was named after some of the most influential men in our lives.  His name carried a legacy of role models and character traits we wanted to pass on.  If we were having 2 boys, we wanted the other name to have the same, and so we thought of men we knew who we would want our son to grow up to be like.  Dr Reist immediately came to mind.  While we were more than thrilled to discover that we were having a boy and a girl, I was disappointed that I would never have a chance to say to my child, "I want to tell you about the man you were named after - an amazing man named Dr. Reist..."  While the name isn't off the table for our adopted children, I am sad I never told him that we wanted to borrow his name - that he will never know we thought so highly of him that we wanted him to serve as a role model for our children.  Although I know he probably would have made a joke - always self-deprecating, he refused to take himself too seriously, and usually responded to any sort of honor with a joke.

Mostly, I am thankful that I know that this isn't goodbye.  What a great consolation to know that this life, this world isn't all!  We are here just a brief moment, but we can look forward to an eternity together in the presence of God.  Confident of his deep, sincere faith, I am confident I will see him again one day. When I get to heaven, I will be listening for his whistle.

Halloween

Update: I just realized I never mentioned anything about the costumes!  "Quick" synopsis: I have wanted them to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 for Halloween since I found out I was having twins.  The Cat and the Hat was a favorite growing up (my dad still has long portions memorized).  To my delight, the twins have fallen in love with it as well (I am proud to have long portions now memorized myself!).  The biggest challenge (in my mind) was the blue hair.  Then I had the lightbulb moment where I realized I could just sew blue yarn to stocking caps.  I told the twins what they were going to be (no fight from them - thank goodness).  I held my breath when others asked them what they were going to be (afraid they would want something different after I had already put in the work!), and not only did they never waiver but they even agreed on which one should be Thing 1 and which should be Thing 2 (something I actually hadn't thought about...).  When presented with a costume idea I was sure they would like better, they simply responded, "I like that!  Maybe I will be that next year."  Phew.  They were as delighted with the costumes as I.  Success!

This year we decided to go Up North for Halloween.  I have always thought that Halloween would be more fun with the grandparents, so we went to Nana's!  Not only did we enjoy a restful couple of days   at her house, but we had a really fun Halloween.

Skyping with Lala.

 Mischievous Things getting into the candy.

 A sweet little Thing lining up the (many) stolen goods

(bonus points if you can guess which twinner!)

We wanted to get some pictures first things (before their wigs were all crooked and their costumes got dirty).  It was a challenge to get them to stand still.  Once in costume, they seemed to fully embody the personalities of the Things from the Cat in the Hat - moving fast and into everything at once.  Thankfully, they weren't quite as destructive!

One cheesy smile...

"Mom, are you done yet?"

 We started by driving around to visit family that lives in the area (namely the great-grandmas).  We called to let them know we were coming - which is good because they apparently don't usually get trick-or-treaters and didn't have candy in the house.  But they spent the time collecting goodies they thought the twins would like, and they seemed to compensate for lack of candy with a large volume of other surprises.  After 3 places the twins' bags were full!

Great Grandma D

 Little Grandma

Aunt Darleen with her first trick-or-treaters ever!

 Aunt Darleen borrowed Allie's wig.  I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of her wearing the wig, but I did capture her face as Allie snatched it away!

Then we went to a couple of houses of friends.  I should note that we expected the weather to be rainy and crummy (the rest of the weather was during our time there), but it cleared up during trick-or-treat time.  Since their wigs were actually stocking caps, and Nana helped us find red gloves to cover their hands, we put extra layers of clothing underneath their costumes and let them go without coats.  I repeat, they were fully clothed underneath their costumes and I checked frequently to make sure they weren't too cold.  It actually ended up being pretty perfect.

Waiting at the first door...I can honestly say that the bags are the only thing that let me know which is which!

 We ended the evening with dinner at McDonalds (we went out pretty early so that it would be light while we went the the houses).  It turns out that McDonalds gives away Sundays on Halloween!  The twins got the largest dish of ice cream they have ever had in their life!  Then we headed home to try to help them unwind and get to bed

Checking out their "booty" - as Allie calls it.  The girl apparently wants to be a pirate...

 Sneaking candy even though I made it clear I did not want them to eat any...and, in the name of consistency, I snapped a picture of the offense before correcting it!

As I put them to bed Ryan said, "Mommy, that was so fun.  Can we go trick-or-treating again tomorrow?"  and Allie keeps begging to go back to Nana's house (because she thinks she will get more candy?).  Thank you, Nana, for such a fun Halloween!

Party!

I've mentioned before that I coordinate the local Moms' Group.  One thing we have started is a costume party for Halloween.  Basically, I like to create as many opportunities to wear their costumes as possible!  This year we scheduled it for the afternoon so that older siblings/moms with school age kids could attend.  I wasn't really thinking it would be any bigger deal than last year...until about 4 days before when I started actually counting up how many people said they were going to attend (23 kids with roughly 35 people once adults were included).  Suddenly, it seemed like a much bigger deal.  Thank goodness I used to be an Activity Director.  I literally put together the party we used to do each year for the residents - complete with "Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin" and a Scavenger Hunt!

Allie trying to give her friend L a hug.

 My favorite costume.  His eyes lit up!  Sadly, he didn't win the costume competition.  I should have voted...

 Since the day was beautiful, we actually held the scavenger hunt outside...in the cemetery.  Normally, I stay away from all things scary.  But I LOVE our cemetery.  It is so beautiful and one of my favorite solitary places.  The twins and I frequently go for walks there.  Because of that, and the gorgeous day, it honestly didn't feel scary.

Hunting.

 Taking a break from the hunt to play in the leaves.

 Unfortunately, the twins (and pretty much all of the kids their age) didn't quite get the team aspect of a scavenger hunt.  So it ended up being a lot of little kids running around with their parents to find things, and then mashing the found items together in teams after (because no one could remember who they were with before).  The ONLY team that stayed together was, not surprisingly, the only team that won.

Running to show me what they found.

 The party ended with pizza and goodie bags (made up of non-candy items brought by each mom) for each of the kids.  I think the pizza and goodie bags alone made the party a success :)  

My mischievous little Things...